5.  The applicant was born in 1938 and lives in Hälleforsnäs.
6.  As from 1990, the applicant received a pension from the Swedish State in addition to the pension she received from the Finnish State. By a decision of 10 February 1995 the Stockholm Social Insurance Office (försäkringskassan) fixed her Swedish pension at 3,754 Swedish kronor (SEK) per month. As from 1996 the applicant was attached to the Social Insurance Office in Flen. Apparently, in August 1997 the entry in the computerised pension register concerning her pension was changed so that, as from September 1997, she received a monthly pension of SEK 776 from Sweden. The applicant received a notice that the amount had been deposited on her bank account from the Flen office. Later investigations revealed that the entry in the pension register had been made by the Stockholm office. The applicant’s case file, however, disappeared and she did not receive a formal decision concerning the reduction of her pension. Nevertheless, on 29 October 1997 counsel for the applicant sent a letter to the National Social Insurance Board (Riksförsäkringsverket) demanding the revocation of the social-insurance office’s decision and the establishment of her right to an unchanged pension. On 13 November 1997 the Board forwarded this letter to the Flen office. On 30 October 1997 the applicant herself sent a letter to the Stockholm office, in which she complained that her pension had been reduced by more than SEK 3,000 without any decision in the matter having been taken. Following an internal inquiry regarding which office was to deal with the case, it was, on 10 February 1998, allocated to the Stockholm office. This office later asked the applicant to send all the decisions she had received in order to establish what had happened in the case. Apart from this and attempts to locate the case file, the offices did not take any further action.
7.  On 23 June 1998 the applicant complained to the Chancellor of Justice (Justitiekanslern). She claimed that, despite her efforts, no action had been taken in her case by the authorities and that her possibility to appeal had thereby been blocked. By a decision of 9 May 2000 the Chancellor severely criticised the two social-insurance offices for their handling of the applicant’s case. He noted that, as the case file had gone missing, it was not possible to clarify who had decided in 1997 to reduce her pension or on which basis the decision had been taken. Although the applicant’s letters to the offices had to be seen as appeals or requests for review, no re-examination of the decision had been made. Noting that, due to the offices’ handling of the case, the applicant had been deprived of her right to appeal, the Chancellor found it striking that the offices had not yet taken any action to make possible a review of the decision.
8.  On 23 August 2000 the Stockholm office produced a decision replacing the missing decision from September 1997. It noted that the pension decision of 10 February 1995 had been incorrect and that there were thus reasons to review it under chapter 20, section 10 a of the Social Insurance Act (Lagen om allmän försäkring, 1962:381). Having regard to the provisions of the Nordic Convention on Social Security (Nordiska konventionen om social trygghet) and the pension the applicant received from Finland, the office found that the applicant was entitled to a Swedish pension of SEK 776.
9.  The applicant appealed to the County Administrative Court (länsrätten) of the County of Stockholm. Following an oral hearing on 10 May 2001, the court rejected the appeal by a judgment of 30 May 2001. On 24 October 2001 and 17 September 2003, respectively, the Administrative Court of Appeal (kammarrätten) in Stockholm and the Supreme Administrative Court (Regeringsrätten) refused the applicant leave to appeal.